MOSCOW, June 24 /TASS/. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said during the Primakov Readings International Scientific and Expert Forum that he would support Russia's withdrawal from the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), which he described as a "half-dead organization."
However, he stressed that this decision ultimately lies with the head of state.
"The OSCE is, of course, a half-dead organization. To be frank, [Russian Deputy Foreign Minister] Alexander Grushko and I have discussed and debated this issue. It is up to the president to decide, but I would certainly leave the organization," Lavrov said. "If not for one thing: the others will not leave. We would be the only ones to withdraw," he noted.
The Russian foreign minister explained that Moscow would not feel "any discomfort" leaving the organization on its own. He noted, however, that it is always useful to have a platform "where people openly throw mud at you, using whatever they have scooped up from a puddle, and you answer them with hard facts."
"And when faced with those facts, the people who were throwing mud no longer have anything to say," Lavrov added. "That is why we are staying. We fully understand the true value of this institution," he concluded.